Carolina Beach OKs conditional-use permit for proposed hotel

Tuesday

Nov 12, 2013 at 10:09 PM

The hotel, slated to go up at 1 Harper Ave., will have eight stories and 100 rooms

By Kate Elizabeth QueramKate.Queram@StarNewsOnline.com

After nearly two hours of debate, the Carolina Beach Town Council at its meeting Tuesday approved a conditional-use permit for a proposed oceanfront Hampton Inn & Suites Hotel."It's good doing business with you guys," said Mayor Bob Lewis. "We're looking forward to it."The hotel, slated to go up at 1 Harper Ave., will have eight stories and 100 rooms, with an outdoor pool, bar, sundeck and breakfast cafe on the second floor. The property will have direct access to the town's elevated wooden boardwalk, said Assistant Town Manager Ed Parvin. Plans have been in the works for at least six years to build a beachfront hotel near the town's boardwalk. A plan was approved in 2007 for a 200-room Hilton Garden Inn on the same site, but the project fell through for economic reasons.The Hampton Inn property requested 91 parking spaces – 73 on-site with an additional 18 in three existing public parking lots between Harper Avenue and Carl Winner Drive. The developer's proposal would revamp the existing lots to function as one large space. The lot would contain 167 public parking spots – 20 more than the space contains now – and the hotel would use 18 for guest parking only as needed, mostly during the height of tourist season."Basically, the hotel is paying to redo the parking lots to make them function better, and by doing so is able to add the 18 parking spaces they need," said Town Manager Michael Cramer. "They would have 73 parking spaces on their site, and would use spaces in the public lot only during peak times."Those spaces would be marked, Cramer said.The spaces in question sit at the corner of Harper Avenue and Canal Drive, the slice of the parking lot located closest to the boardwalk. That stipulation was a major concern for council members and town residents, who were hesitant to sacrifice prime parking spots in the central business district. "It's about the fairness to the other businesses down there that count on these parking spaces," said Tammy Hanson, a Carolina Beach Realtor. "Those spaces closer to the boardwalk turn over more frequently. Families go down there, park, go to Britt's, shop, walk around, leave and then another car parks there. I feel the people coming to the hotel … more than likely, they're going to park their car and it's going to stay there."Mayor Pro Tem Steve Shuttleworth agreed, noting that the spaces in question produce significant proceeds for the town."That is the money lot in town. That particular corner is the corner that gets the highest volume of people," he said. "I'm sensing resistance to saying that that corner is yours, as long as you operate the hotel, at no cost. After 15 to 20 years, maybe you'd need to start paying some kind of rate, or let's flip (the parking spaces) to the back side."As a condition of approving the permit, council members instructed town staff to negotiate a lease for the parking spaces after a certain number of years."Staff can negotiate a lease after 20 years for the 18 spaces and report back to council what the lease is," Shuttleworth said.Construction plans are expected to be completed for the project in December, with a groundbreaking slated for January. If the project remains on schedule, the hotel should open in May 2015.